Civil War Governors of Kentucky · Civil War Governors of Kentucky

Petition

Joseph Shawhan et al. to Thomas E. Bramlette

1864-01-08

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Joseph Shawhan et al. to Thomas E. Bramlette, 1864-01-08, Office of the Governor, Thomas E. Bramlette: Governor's official correspondence file, petitions for pardons, remissions, and respites 1863-1867, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, https://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-004-0472 (November 12, 2026).

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To His Excellency Thomas E Bramlett, Govenor of the Commonwealth of Ky;

The undersigned Citizens of Harrison County, state that Garrett Whitson, was tried & found guilty of the murder of John Spikard, and has been sentenced to be hanged on the 9^th day of Febuary, 1864. The Killed man, was but recently before his death out of the Penetentiary, and maintained the worst possible Character befor he went & while there- The crime for which the deceased was sent to the penetentiary was, that he went into a melon patch, of one of his neighbors, and was stealing the mellons and when the owners of the melons, (being a man and his wife) came on him & asked him to desist, he instantly shot them both, but fortunately, the shots did not prove fatel to either: Showing him to be a man of the most vicious & blood thirsty Character. The proof develop these facts That Whitson went to the house of Mr Albright, in Company with some other persons, and told Albrights wife and daughter, both of whom are notorious prostitutes; that Albright was out some distance from the house very drunk and started with them to assist in bringing him home, When they had proceded some distance, until they came up to a main road, they met with Andrew Whitson with a shot gun, & John Spikard with a rifle; Spikard said why have you brought my Cousin sis and her daughter out here this time of night, (it was then about dusk) She remarked that she was hunting for Mr Albright her husband, that Garrett Whitson had said her husband was lying near a log on the road side, Spikard said that Whitson was a liar; Whitson said he must not repeat what he had said, Spikard with his loaded rifle in his hand, did repeat it, whereupon Whitson snatched the shot gun from his brother Andrew Whitson, and instantly fired & killed Spikard. The only witnesses to prove any thing about the matter were the two Cousins of Spikard, Elizabeth Albright & Mary Francis Albright, and James Ashbrook, the two women are notorious harlots, and Ashbrook is a man whose character for veracity is utterly worthless, Whitson has a large family of small children, is entirely destitute of procuring means, and is without relations who take an intrest in him, sufficient to make them exert themselves for his pardon, or otherwise aid him in his perilous situation, and we who are strangers to him, but acquainted with the

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general character of the witnesses, upon whose testimony he was found guilty, do not believe that any human being ought to suffer the death penalty upon the sole.

an exclusive evidence of such persons, as the witnesses for the prosecution against this poor man; we therefore ask your Exellency to pardon him, He is a Consumptive & is now a mere shadow, from the effect of his disease, and protracted confinement in our County Jail, befor & since his trial, and if appearances are true to themselves, he cannot last, if pardoned, more than six or eight months. Cynthiana Ky Jan 8^th 1864

Joseph Shawhan
Samuel Kelly
J. W. M^cIntosh
John M^cKee
J, J, Parish
Wm H. Roberts
M. [Kimbray]
G W Buzzard
Chas R [Rumhough]
A. H. Wheeler
Henry Linba
Benjⁿ Moore
P. Wherritt
Pollard M^cKenney
John Marsh
H Rawland
Lewis Clay
W G. Kennard
Edward Q, Cason
J T Berry
Saml F. January
G H Perrin
G. B. Kinman
R. L. Thompson

James Gray
L S Jameson
D. Ammerman
B. M. Swinford
C J. [Pocudenle]
D. Woodruff
J W Hosner
Judd Heay
Joseph Lail
John L. Freewhair
Jn^o Redman
W,, Sparks
J A. Gosett
James Snell
C. L. Lail
Samuel Reneker
Abreham Reneker
Thomas W^m Gibbes
Joseph Cosby
John T. Henry
John H. Houston
G. W. Carter
Thomas Wornall
John Elkins

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Martin Smith
T A Taylor
C C Yarnall
W^m Wiglesworth
A. M. Crow
C. S. M^cMillin
J H Waits
N Y Wilson
Thomas Jenkins
R Waits
John Jameson
John N Shawhan
Samuel Levergill
George Goodnight
B. W Talbott
W^m T Turner
John A Craigmuggle
W^m B Gossett
T. A. Clifford
Robert Reneker
William Smith
Geo W M^cLord
John A Nichols
Robert Scot
George Goodnight
George Hager
Jas A Henshall
Thomas Yarnel
James Sullivan
Thomas Sullivan

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Carter Page
Patrick Mahaney
V B King
C Hutcherson
F Doud
J. Reneker Jr
[...] B[...]
G W Taylor
E H [Burns]
P Renneker
Mikel [Fargo]

Martin Smith